Mar Thoma Sunday School Regional Talent Festival (North America) — A Sunday-School Talent Festival in North America: Solo Song, Story Telling, Elocution, Bible Reading, Group Song and Bible Quiz Across Five Grade Pairs

Talent Test · Sunday School

Mar Thoma Church Sunday Schools, Diocese of North America regional talent festival: English and Malayalam solo song, story telling, elocution and Bible reading across five grade-pair classes, plus Group Song and a Bible Quiz for teams, built from the Northeast 2026 and Southeast regional guidelines.

A ready-made regional talent festival for Sunday schools, with English and Malayalam singing, three spoken items, a team song and a Bible quiz, grouped by pairs of school grades and scored on a simple 20-point scale with medal bands.

This template models a regional talent festival run by the Sunday schools of a church diocese in North America. Children from several parishes in one region meet on a single Saturday, perform in front of a small panel and take home a medal band or a participation certificate. It is built from the festival’s own published guidelines: the newest regional edition (September 2026, New York) for classes, events and time limits, and two older regional editions for the scoring rules the newest sheet does not repeat. Dates, venues and entry rules change every year, so check the current guidelines before reusing anything.

Six competitions are modelled. Solo Song is sung in English or Malayalam, depending on the class. Story Telling is an English spoken item with a three-minute limit, Elocution is an English recitation-style speech with a limit of three minutes thirty seconds, and Bible Reading is an English reading item for the oldest class. Group Song is a team item sung in English or Malayalam, and the Bible Quiz is a team knowledge contest. The programme grows with the child: Grades 1 and 2 enter English Solo Song and Story Telling, Grades 3 and 4 add Malayalam Solo Song, Grades 5 and 6 swap Story Telling for Elocution, and Grades 7 and 8 and Grades 9 and 10 sing in both languages and speak Elocution, with Bible Reading added at Grades 9 and 10.

Entrants are grouped by pairs of school grades, taken as at the start of the school year: Grade 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, and 9 and 10. The source gives grades but no ages, so this template carries placeholder age bands (6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13 and 14-15) alongside the printed grade restriction, and a coordinator should adjust the ages for their own region. In the two oldest grade pairs, solo songs are split into separate boys’ and girls’ events. Group Song and the Bible Quiz sit in one age-independent Team Events group for Sunday schools up to Grade 10.

Scoring follows the older regional editions: each solo item is marked out of 20, which is four criteria at up to 5 points each, and the group song is marked out of 25 across five criteria. Awards are Gold for 17 to 20, Silver for 13 to 16, Bronze for 9 to 12 and a Participation Certificate for 0 to 8. Team items are placed first, second and third, and the overall points table gives 3, 2 and 1 for Gold, Silver and Bronze and 6, 4 and 2 for first to third in the team items. The newest sheet prints no marks, so this scale is carried over from the older editions and should be confirmed with your own organisers. The Bible Quiz uses the default total of 100. Time limits are only printed for Story Telling and Elocution.

Where this event is run

Regional talent festivals for Sunday schools are held by church communities across North America, the United Kingdom, the Gulf and India, usually on a single weekend with a mix of music, speech, art and Bible-knowledge items. The format here, pairs of school grades, English and mother-tongue singing, a spoken item and a team quiz, suits any faith or community group that runs a children’s day for several parishes or centres and wants fair, simple classes and medal bands rather than a single winner.

• United States
• North America

Key facts

• Six competitions: Solo Song, Story Telling, Elocution, Bible Reading, Group Song and Bible Quiz
• Five grade-pair classes (Grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10) plus one Team Events group for Group Song and the Bible Quiz
• Singing in English and Malayalam; Story Telling, Elocution and Bible Reading in English
• Story Telling is limited to 3 minutes with a 2:30 warning, Elocution to 3 minutes 30 seconds
• Boys’ and girls’ solo songs are separate from Grade 7 upwards; younger classes sing together
• Individual items are scored out of 20 with Gold, Silver, Bronze and Participation bands; team items are ranked first to third

Age groups

6

Competition items

6

Competitions

22

Grade bands

4

Rank awards

3

Age groups

Every candidate is placed into one of these groups by age, and competitions are run per group.

Grade 1 & 2

6From

–

7To

Candidates aged 6 to 7 compete in this group

Grade 3 & 4

8From

–

9To

Candidates aged 8 to 9 compete in this group

Grade 5 & 6

10From

–

11To

Candidates aged 10 to 11 compete in this group

Grade 7 & 8

12From

–

13To

Candidates aged 12 to 13 compete in this group

Grade 9 & 10

14From

–

15To

Candidates aged 14 to 15 compete in this group

Team Events (Grades 1-10)

6From

–

15To

Candidates aged 6 to 15 compete in this group

Competition items

The events themselves — each with the category it belongs to and how judges score it.

Solo Song

MusicMarks

Story Telling

OralMarks

Elocution

OralMarks

Bible Reading

OralMarks

Bible Quiz

BibleMarks

Group Song

MusicMarks

Frequently asked questions

Can I change this template after installing it?

Yes — installing it creates a fully configured, live event, not a locked package. Every age group, competition item, rule and scoring setting can be edited afterwards to match exactly what your event actually needs.

Do I need technical knowledge to set this up?

No. Installing a template does the setup work for you; you only need to review the details (dates, unit or house names) and open registration.

Want the fuller picture first? See our guide to singing competition judging criteria guide.